Page 173 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2021. Opereta med obema svetovnima vojnama ▪︎ Operetta between the Two World Wars. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 5
P. 173
ntity-machines: the nationalism of hungar ian oper etta between the two wor ld wars
last week.”10 The work gained the fawning title of “the most excellent oper
etta of the season,”11 owing more to the advertising campaign around the
premiere, and less to its musical merits. The discourse centres on the fairy-
tale marriage, on obtaining the beloved girl, but this victory is not yet as-
sociated with obtaining the country, or more pertinently, regaining it. The
operetta’s object is a standard romantic seduction, nothing more.
The actors were captured in costumed studio photographs, wear-
ing the sartorial relics of an invented Hungarian past, rococo powdered
wigs alongside 16th century fur jackets, creating an impossible, yet famil-
iar operetta milieu. The impression of Hungarianness is derived from mil-
itary gold braid and floral Kalocsa embroidery, which appears folksy in the
Baden-Baden setting, and is not typical of the actual Bodrog region either,
meaning that more than anything these images manifest the alienness of
Choltay’s character. We have no visual documentation of the set used for
the premiere, even though the theatre commissioned the most popular,
most well-known set designer, the master of the Opera, Jenő Kéméndy, and
he apparently “succeeded in creating a very beautiful Hungarian milieu.”12
As “the second act takes place back home in Greater Hungary […] there
are lots of opportunities for creating ambiance, using crowd scenes and deco
rative effects.” Further information on the elements of ambiance is written
in an (undated) director’s copy:
The map of Greater Hungary in muted green tones, but with strong
borders. Hovering above, a Hungarian crown lit by many colourful
bulbs, held by floating winged angels on the left and right. In the left
and right corners two kuruc rebel soldiers with the national flag, in
the middle a peasant girl with a sickle hands a sheaf of wheat to a
Hungarian peasant, who looks upward leaning on his scythe.13
In 1922, highlighting the borders of Greater Hungary on a set back-
drop conveyed national anguish over an incomprehensible situation, not
irredentist sentiment. The reviews also found the object of the Kéméndy set
completely natural, not only because it presented the familiar geographic
depiction of the country, but because in 1780, the idea of possessing the en-
tire Carpathian basin belonged just as firmly to the Hungarian identity as
10 “Új asszony érkezett Hamburgból,” Színházi Élet 9, no. 5 (1924): 24.
11 Uj Budapest, 4.
12 “Hat intervju,” 19.
13 Libretto with director’s notes. Széchényi National Library, Archives, 136.
171
last week.”10 The work gained the fawning title of “the most excellent oper
etta of the season,”11 owing more to the advertising campaign around the
premiere, and less to its musical merits. The discourse centres on the fairy-
tale marriage, on obtaining the beloved girl, but this victory is not yet as-
sociated with obtaining the country, or more pertinently, regaining it. The
operetta’s object is a standard romantic seduction, nothing more.
The actors were captured in costumed studio photographs, wear-
ing the sartorial relics of an invented Hungarian past, rococo powdered
wigs alongside 16th century fur jackets, creating an impossible, yet famil-
iar operetta milieu. The impression of Hungarianness is derived from mil-
itary gold braid and floral Kalocsa embroidery, which appears folksy in the
Baden-Baden setting, and is not typical of the actual Bodrog region either,
meaning that more than anything these images manifest the alienness of
Choltay’s character. We have no visual documentation of the set used for
the premiere, even though the theatre commissioned the most popular,
most well-known set designer, the master of the Opera, Jenő Kéméndy, and
he apparently “succeeded in creating a very beautiful Hungarian milieu.”12
As “the second act takes place back home in Greater Hungary […] there
are lots of opportunities for creating ambiance, using crowd scenes and deco
rative effects.” Further information on the elements of ambiance is written
in an (undated) director’s copy:
The map of Greater Hungary in muted green tones, but with strong
borders. Hovering above, a Hungarian crown lit by many colourful
bulbs, held by floating winged angels on the left and right. In the left
and right corners two kuruc rebel soldiers with the national flag, in
the middle a peasant girl with a sickle hands a sheaf of wheat to a
Hungarian peasant, who looks upward leaning on his scythe.13
In 1922, highlighting the borders of Greater Hungary on a set back-
drop conveyed national anguish over an incomprehensible situation, not
irredentist sentiment. The reviews also found the object of the Kéméndy set
completely natural, not only because it presented the familiar geographic
depiction of the country, but because in 1780, the idea of possessing the en-
tire Carpathian basin belonged just as firmly to the Hungarian identity as
10 “Új asszony érkezett Hamburgból,” Színházi Élet 9, no. 5 (1924): 24.
11 Uj Budapest, 4.
12 “Hat intervju,” 19.
13 Libretto with director’s notes. Széchényi National Library, Archives, 136.
171
